Catching the Girl
by everlovingdeer
Summary: "Nothing," Cedric insisted, his steps slowing but not coming to a halt. "I'm doing this from the good of my heart." "Ok, but why?" "Because I'm your fairy godmother," he threw over his shoulder with a wide smile. "Now hurry up and follow me. Whilst we're walking, you might as well practice what you're going to say to Hewitt because you'll only get one try at this Ernie."
1. Catching the Girl

Ernie's POV

The yule ball was a massive source of stress for every single male in the castle. Girls were complicated creatures and Merin, was that an understatement. How was I supposed to approach one and ask her to go with me to the yule ball? Especially when the only girl I wanted to ask was the one I'd secretly been crushing on since the start of the year. If she ever knew, she'd probably laugh.

Ok, maybe that was a bit of a stretch.

So she wouldn't laugh, but I'd probably get that smile she reserved for the first years that she found 'cute' in a younger brother sort of way. And Merlin, I did _not_ want to be seen as a brother. What in Merlin's name was I supposed to do in this situation? How was I supposed to gather enough courage to speak her about something that was more than homework?

A hand clapped onto my shoulder with such force that I was pulled from my thoughts. Blinking quickly, I righted myself and looked at the older male who settled down into the seat across from me. Smiling cheekily at me, Cedric settled down into his seat, and gestured between me and the direction that I had been staring in.

 _She_ had been sitting there.

"Would you stop that," I hissed quietly, turning my eyes back to my open textbook in an attempt to hide my reddening cheeks.

"I will when you pluck up the courage to ask her to go to the yule ball with you," he responded with a chuckle, kicking my knee gently under the table.

"Courage is for the Gryffindors," I reminded him. "Not for us Hufflepuffs."

"Don't underestimate the badger." He rolled out a piece of parchment. "The honey badger is one of the most fearless creatures on the Earth. So pluck up the courage Macmillan, before one of the other blokes intervenes."

I made a face at him; he made it sound like it was so easy. But then again, for him it probably was. What did Cedric Diggory have to fear when it came to girls? The girls were lining up for even a second of his attention and if he had been any less of a good guy, then he would have played around with his fair share of girls. But he hadn't.

"You say that like it's so incredibly simple," I remarked as movement from the corner of my eye made me look away from him momentarily.

She had risen from her table, packing her stuff as she spoke to Hannah. Hannah, as if she could feel the weight of my eyes, looked up to give me a sly wink before leading her out of the library. I buried my face into my hands; was Hewitt the only person in the entire house who didn't know about my crush on her. I hated this bloody yule ball – whoever decided to make it a tradition could go and drown in the Black Lake.

"Don't be so overdramatic," Cedric admonished and I looked up to see the smile on his face. He was enjoying this. "Trust me this once and pluck up your courage. You never know what might happen."

My eyebrows rose at the hidden implication of his words. Surely, he couldn't mean –

"What do you know, Diggory?"

His smile widened and he leaned back in his seat, crossing his arms over his chest, "Wouldn't you like to know, Macmillan?"

Rolling my eyes in frustration, I threw him a foul glare and started to pack my things. Sometimes Cedric could be so incredibly annoying. It was a wonder that he still had any friends.

"Shouldn't you have better things to do, being the triwizard champion and all?" I asked instead of rising to his bait. "Merlin, Diggory, you're a right old gossip at the best of times."

"It's because it's so much fun," He remarked as I turned to leave the library.

It was my intention to leave the annoying man behind but for someone so smart, he couldn't understand a thing. Packing his things, Cedric followed quickly after me. Closing the distance between us in an instance, he dropped into step beside me.

"Are you heading back to the common room, then?" he asked when I glanced curiously at him.

"Why?" I narrowed my eyes suspiciously up at him, "What if I am?"

"It's nothing," he denied with innocence that I knew he did not possess.

Instead of saying anything, I decided that I would put off going to the common room for a bit and turned to head in the other direction. Looping an arm over my shoulder, Cedric turned me forcefully and made me continue waking towards the common room. I pitifully attempted to break away from his hold but years of quidditch had served him well and I wasn't going anywhere.

"Why are you so desperate to get me to go to the common room anyway?" My exasperation carried across to the older man who raised his eyebrows at me.

"Maybe I just don't want to walk alone." He raised an eyebrow teasingly, "I _do_ have a reputation to uphold, you know."

"Whatever you say, Diggory, you're lucky that only Hufflepuffs know what you're really like. If anyone outside of Hufflepuff knew, then you'd lose your reputation as the golden boy."

He winced playfully, "You wound me." Straightening up to his full height, he removed his arm from my shoulder and looked at me seriously. Without my conscious knowledge, I found myself stopping beside him, "Look Ernie, half of the house have seen you pining one-sidedly for a while now – you're incredibly obvious about it – and we want to help. Merlin, do you realise that I had to cover four of Abbott's patrol shifts just to get her to go along with the plan?"

"The plan?" I furrowed my eyebrows, looking up at him with blatant confusion, "What plan?"

"The plan to get you to finally ask the love of your life to go on a date with you –"

"Hewitt is not the love of my life," I muttered under my breath.

"She could be." Cedric pointed out with a raised eyebrow, "That's beside the point, Abbott is waiting with her in the common room as we speak and Hewitt is bound to get suspicious. So, come along."

Cedric started to walk again, fully expecting me to follow along after him. And I was tempted to, very tempted – I mean, he was going to get me to go out with Hewitt – but I forced myself to stay where I was.

"And what exactly are you getting out of this?" I called out curiously.

"Nothing," Cedric insisted, his steps slowing but not coming to a halt. "I'm doing this from the good of my heart."

"Ok, but why?"

"Because I'm your fairy godmother," he threw over his shoulder with a wide smile. "Now hurry up and follow me. Whilst we're walking, you might as well practice what you're going to say to Hewitt because you'll only get one try at this Ernie."

I followed after Cedric, quickening my paces so I could catch up to him. Under normal circumstances I would have teased Cedric for identifying as my fairy godmother rather than as my fairy godfather, but instead I did as he had instructed. Mentally, I prepared what I was going to say all whilst knowing that it was futile.

The moment that I came before Hewitt, all of my practiced words would leave my mind and I'd be reduced to a blundering mess. Merlin, I was pathetic.

The entrance to the Hufflepuff common room came into view and I felt my palms begin to sweat. Wiping them against the side of my trousers, I took a deep breath to control my rapidly beating heart as we stepped into the common room. My eyes instantly swept across the room, searching her out and finding her in the corner as she sat, talking to her friends. Cedric and I stopped at the entrance of the room and Hannah glanced over at us.

Was that the cue?

I went to take a step towards the girls when Hannah shook her head discreetly. My heart plummeted into my chest and I looked over at Cedric for some form of instruction. His eyebrows were pulled together as he frowned and gestured for Hannah to approach us. Retreating into a corner of the room, Cedric and I waited for Hannah to reach us.

"What's going on?" Cedric demanded when she was near us.

"One of the Durmstrang's got to her first," Hannah explained, looking over at me with a sympathetic smile. I looked away from her. "I don't even think she wanted to go with him – but you know what's she's like; she's too kind to say no to him, especially when he asked her in front of all of his friends. She probably didn't want to embarrass him."

"It doesn't matter." I shook my head and forced myself to smile at the other two. Really, I should have known better than to get my hopes up. "It's too late now."

"It's never too late," Cedric swore firmly, an unsettling look in his eye. He seemed to make his mind up about something before he clapped me on the shoulder and smiled warmly. "Trust your fairy godmother, young badger."

Hannah glanced curiously at me, repeating quietly, "Fairy godmother?"

I rolled my eyes, "Don't even ask."

* * *

I had to be dreaming. That was the only explanation for the situation that I found myself in. I was clearly so desperate that my mind had pulled me into an elaborate day dream. Merlin, I needed to get a grip. There must have been something wrong for me to –

There was a sharp pain in my side.

Snapping out of my thoughts, I glared up at Cedric and rubbed at my side with my hand. There was no need for him to pinch me. He acted as though he had done nothing and continued to look ahead at the two girls who were sitting in front of us. Hewitt sighed into her hands and Hannah gave me a prodding look.

I hadn't been dreaming then.

Cedric cleared his throat when it became obvious that I was struggling to think of something to say – it was always like this in front of Hewitt. Realising that I was of no use, he spoke first, "So, what happened exactly?"

"Her date has food poisoning," Hannah explained, before giving me a look that suggested that I needed to get my shit together before this opportunity slipped between my fingers.

"That's so unfortunate," Cedric said quietly and I narrowed my eyes at him.

He had done something, I was certain of it and I couldn't thank him enough for it. Whatever he had done, had given me another shot and who was I to question the workings of my fairy godmother? Hewitt, it appeared, was clueless of the obvious plotting and seemed to find nothing strange with the fact that her date, alone, had caught food poisoning.

"Tell me about it," Hewitt muttered with a sigh, "I'm going to be the only girl to turn up without a date."

"You never know, someone else might ask you," Hannah comforted her and threw me an annoyed look when it became obvious that I had not picked up on what was supposed to be my cue.

"I doubt it." Hewitt straightened up in her seat, "Besides, the yule ball is tomorrow; where am I going to find a date in such a small amount of time?"

Hannah was absolutely glaring at me as she said, "Don't worry, something will come up. Trust me."

"Maybe this is a sign that I shouldn't go to the ball?" She looked at Hannah with a raised eyebrow. "What do you think Han? I could just help you girls get ready and then hide out in the kitchens where all the food is?"

"You can't do that!" I exclaimed, her words were enough to snap me out of my stupor. Realising that my voice had been louder than necessary, I shrunk into myself and felt my ears redden when Cedric started to snicker at me.

"I can't?" Hewitt repeated cautiously and my imagination was definitely getting the better of me because I could have sworn that I heard something akin to hope in her voice. "Why can't I, Ernie?"

"It would be a shame not to go," I said quietly, not quite able to meet her searching eyes. Merlin, it should not have taken so much time to string a comprehensible sentence together. "I mean, you've been talking for so long about having found the perfect dress and it would be such a shame to waste it."

Her voice was soft as she said, "But I don't want to go alone."

I raised my eyes to hers and I could have sworn that Hannah and Cedric seemed to disappear from my field of vision. Clearing my throat, I forced myself to speak, even as my face started to resemble a tomato more and more. "Then go with me."

"I couldn't," she protested slightly, "I'm sure there's another girl you'd rather go with Ernie."

I shook my head. "I want to go with you."

She smiled then, gently and slightly bashfully, "Alright then, I'll see you tomorrow?"

I cleared my throat again, needlessly. Was it normal for something as simple as a smile to disarm me so powerfully? "It's a date."

"It's a date," she repeated quietly, turning her eyes away from me and releasing me from her spell.

I blinked twice, coming out of my daze and growing hot under Cedric' pleased stare. The girls migrated to their dorm and I swatted at Cedric in an attempt to get him to quit it.

"Would you stop that?" I muttered, loosening my tie from around my neck. "You're drawing attention to us."

"I'm so proud of you, my little badger," he teased, ruffling my hair and repeated the action when I scrunched my nose at him. "If you hadn't asked her this time Ernie, I was planning on locking the two of you in a broom closet and not letting you out until you asked her. It's safe to say that you picked the less embarrassing option."

I turned my narrowed eyes onto him, "Alright, now spill _, fairy godmother_ ; what did you do to her original date?"

He smiled innocently at me, "Something _might_ have been slipped something into his pumpkin juice."

"You're absolutely mad." The admiration in my tone carried across to him, "How in Merlin's name, did you manage that?"

"Krum did it for me." Cedric shrugged, "So technically I didn't do a thing."

"And why would Krum do that?" I raised an eyebrow.

"Because he owed me." He stretched his arm over the back of the sofa, scratching behind his ear. "Who do you think told him about Granger's hide out?"

"Wait a minute." My eyes widened and I scanned the common room to see if I found any members of Krum's fan club. Lowering my voice, I asked, "Krum fancies _Granger_?"

Cedric let out a low whistle, "You're so unobservant – no wonder you don't see the way Hewitt looks at you?"

"The way she looks at me?" I asked curiously.

Cedric made no move to answer me and instead headed up to the boy's dorm. I followed after him, trying to get him to answer my question but he wouldn't budge. What type of fairy godmother was he?

* * *

"Would you stop stressing out," Justin exclaimed, rising from his bed where he had been sitting for the past half an hour, watching me pace back and forth.

"Don't you think I'd do that if I could?" I threw back, watching his lips turn up in one corner with evident amusement.

"Merlin, you're such a worrywart Ernie," he admonished, blocking my path and forcing me to come to a halt. His eyes scanned me over from head to toe and I fidgeted slightly; what if he found something that was wrong and would only embarrass me in front of my date? Justin sighed and snapped his fingers in front of my face in order to get me to pay attention to him. "Seriously Ernie, I've watched you fix your robes a countless number of times over the last half an hour. Would you leave them alone? You look fine."

"Well you would just say that to stop me from being annoying," I pointed out as I walked around him and headed for the floor-length mirror. Straightening out my bowtie, I watched him approach me through the mirror.

"That's true," he admitted before swatting my hands away from my bowtie. "Would you stop that? Hewitt isn't going to care if you turn up looking even a little scruffy."

I raised an eyebrow, "Are you saying I look scruffy?"

Justin swore under his breath and headed back towards his bed. Sitting down on the edge, he shook his head, "You're hopeless Ernie, utterly hopeless. No wonder you haven't noticed Hewitt's crush."

I froze, eyes widening. "She has a crush?" Turning to face him, I looked at him expectantly. "On who?"

Groaning aloud, Justin threw himself back on his bed. Staring up at the ceiling he muttered profanities under his breath and cursed at me for being so stupid. I personally happened to think that I was very bright – except when it came to Hewitt of course. I could swear that I actually felt my IQ drop when I was around her.

"You'll have to give him some more hints Justin," a voice called out from the doorway and I turned to find my fairy godmother himself stood in the doorway. Cedric's smile was very slightly annoying as he walked into our dorm, completely uninvited. "He's kind of clueless about this entire situation."

"Well if I'm so clueless, then why don't you fill me in?" I crossed my arms and looked between the other two. They shared a look before shaking their heads.

"It's not as fun if we do," Justin announced.

"You've got some serious mood swings," I muttered under my breath, "And I thought my sister's mood swings were bad – just a few minutes ago, you were getting annoyed."

"This situation is fun, but you acting like a drama queen isn't," he explained.

"Unbelievable." I shook my head and looked back at Cedric, "What are you doing here anyway?"

"I thought I'd pop in to see my badger before the ball and wish you luck." He grinned teasingly, "And who knows? If I think your date's going well, then I might just charm some mistletoe to follow the two of you."

He was out of the room before I could say anything. Rising to his feet, Justin nudged me and gestured to the door. "We should get going too or else the girls will have to wait around."

With one more look in the mirror, I followed him out of the dorm and down the stairs into the common room. Waiting in the common room, my eyes remained trained on the entrance to the girl's dorm, waiting for Hewitt to come out of the dorm. And when she did, Justin slapped me on the back and reminded me to stick my tongue back into my mouth.

Prick.

Gathering myself when she reached the bottom of the stairs, I smiled encouragingly at her when she took her final timid step into the common room. Closing the distance between us, I offered her my arm which she took easily.

"You look beautiful," I said quietly, turning a shocking crimson when her eyes rose to mine in surprise.

She smiled gratefully, "Thanks, you look really handsome Ernie."

Clearing my throat nervously, I started to lead her towards the exit. "Let's get going – we don't want to be late for the ball."

"No, we don't," she agreed quietly.

Merlin, I hoped she couldn't hear the rapid beating of my heart.

One of my biggest worries about going to the yule ball with Hewitt was that I would become more and more nervous as the night wore on. But that didn't seem to be the case. It appeared that I had worried about it for no reason. Gradually as the night wore on, my nerves slowly faded away and I found myself acting more and more like my normal self. The same could be said for her. Hewitt became less quiet as the ball progressed and she was more like the girl who I was so completely head over heels for.

By the time some of the couples had started to leave the ball, we were both so completely carefree. I spun her under my arm and pulled her back into me with a laugh. Hewitt giggled, the sound trailing off slightly when my hands found their place on her waist. We swayed to the music and I wanted, more than anything, to pluck up the courage and ask her out for real.

But I had nowhere near enough courage to do that.

"Ernie?" she called out quietly, making me look down at her.

"What's the matter?" I asked, as she nodded her head upwards to gesture to something.

There above us, floating harmlessly in the air, was a sprig of mistletoe. Looking across the hall and meeting eyes with Cedric, I watched him wave his wand at me in greeting. He smiled cheekily and I looked back to Hewitt who was staring curiously at me.

I glanced momentarily back at Cedric before looking back to Hewitt. Swallowing nervously, I braced my heart.

Merlin, he was _some_ kind of fairy godmother. Truly.

* * *

After the kiss we had shared at the end of the yule ball, she had taken to avoiding me. I didn't think I was _that_ bad of a kisser.

But, nevertheless, she avoided me and it put me in a foul mood. My foul mood lasted throughout the remaining weeks of the school term and it was obvious that it was grating on Justin's nerves and Cedric, well, he was willing to go on an offensive on my behalf. It had taken a lot to calm him down; apparently, he had not anticipated this particular outcome.

I resigned myself to the fact that I had pushed Hewitt away and that she clearly didn't return my feelings. Over the Christmas holiday I'd have to come to terms with it and bury my feelings deep inside. It wouldn't be that difficult to do, right?

And it wasn't like I could _ask_ her what was wrong because whenever I tried to speak about it, Hewitt ran straight into the girl's dorm and they remained off limits to me. Merlin, even if I tried to talk to Hannah, I couldn't do that because she had taken Hewitt's side – I hadn't even realised that there were sides to take. But apparently, because Hewitt was a girl, she liked to make things complicated and suddenly we were on opposing sides.

Anyway, shouldn't Hannah have been on _my_ side in the first place? After all, she had been part of the plan in the first place.

It seemed that I'd have to settle for not knowing what went wrong and wait for this all to pass. Once the Hogwarts Express returned to the station, I'd go home and bury myself in a mountain of chocolate cake and treacle tarts. Someone shoved my arm, making me straighten up in my seat. Looking over at Justin, I raised an eyebrow and watched him as he gestured to the doorway of the train carriage. Hewitt stood nervously in the open doorway.

My eyebrows rose in surprise but I said nothing. Instead, I watched as she shuffled nervously on her feet. What did she want? Justin, looking between the two of us, sighed and rose to his feet. Ushering the rest of the boys out of the carriage, he gestured for me to remain seated.

"We'll give you some privacy," he offered, signalling with an arm for Hewitt to step inside the carriage.

Once he was outside of the carriage, Justin shut the door behind him and through the glass of the door, he silently told me to sort the situation out. The only problem was that I had no idea how to do that.

Looking back to Hewitt, I watched as she took a seat across from me. I waited for her to say something but she didn't. Instead she stared down at her shoes, her hair shielding her face from my eyes and I was overwhelmed with the urge to brush her hair away from her face. I sat on my hands, just in case.

Clearing my throat, I decided to break the painful silence, "Do you have any plans for the holiday?"

"Huh?" She was clearly shocked, looking up at me with wide eyes. She blinked, composing herself and she nodded, biting down on her bottom lip nervously. Merlin. I forced my eyes to return to hers. "Yeah, Christmas is family time after all." Her eyes looked around the carriage, "What about you?"

"Christmas is when the entire extended family gets together," I explained quietly.

"Ah, right."

I sighed and looked out of the window; the awkwardness was painful. We were silent again and I wanted to demand answers. I needed to know what I had done that made her avoid me and why she'd come in search of me in the first place. But I didn't.

"Ernie," she called out quietly, as the silence grew even longer. I forced myself to hesitate before looking back at her. "I wanted to talk to you – I thought you deserved an explanation."

"For why you've been avoiding me?" I raised an eyebrow when she nodded, "Well, you're damn right I do."

She let out a deep breath, "You kissed me."

"Did you not want me to?" I asked softly, only becoming more confused when she shook her head.

"That's not it – you kissed me because there was mistletoe."

"Yes, but I don't understand."

"It's ok," she smiled bravely. I was so very confused. "You kissed me because there was mistletoe and, and not because you have feelings for me. I told Hannah she was wrong – I knew you didn't feel the same way."

"Wait," I called out when she rose to her feet. She hesitated and sat back down again as I struggled to wrap my head around what she had just revealed. "That's not – that's not why."

"What –"

"It wasn't _just_ because of the mistletoe. I used the mistletoe as an excuse to do something I'd wanted to do for a while." I forced myself to continue, even as I felt my ears grow hot. "I – I do have feelings for you. Merlin, ask any member of Hufflepuff house and they'll be able to tell you that. But I don't understand? You – You have feelings for me?"

She nodded cautiously, "I do – I have done for a while."

"Me too."

There was another silence where I was trying my very best to wrap my head around what I had just found out. I felt like my heart was going to explode –

"Will you go out with me?"

"What?" I questioned, surprised – I was supposed to ask her.

She blushed but repeated her question, "Will you go out with me? Maybe sometime over the holiday, we could go out or something?"

I smiled, trying my very best not to beam and scare her off, "Sure, I'd like that."

She returned the smile with one that was much less hesitant than mine, "Good."


	2. Epilogue

_10 YEARS LATER_

Normal (OC) POV

10 years flew by in the wink of an eye. Before I knew it, our relationship had shifted from its tentative beginnings and already, we were getting married.

If there was one thing that I had learnt during our relationship, it was that Ernie worried about things – a lot. That was one of the reasons that he hadn't been able to hide his plan to propose to me. Although he still had no idea that I'd known about it before he'd managed to propose. But I had figured it out relatively quickly when I found the box hidden in the sock drawer. One look at that little box and his high strung attitude – or more high strung than normal – all made sense.

And now, now that the wedding ceremony had officially come to an end, the biggest of his worries had eased from him. I could see it in his face and his body language. The creases by his eyes, heightened by his tension, had disappeared and he seemed so completely at ease. He no longer held his body stiffly and relaxed, throwing an arm around my shoulder as we listened to the toasts. The best man, Justin's, toast came to an end and Ernie leaned over to press a kiss to my forehead as another of his groomsmen rose to his feet. Upon realising exactly who the next groomsman was, I hid a smile against Ernie's shoulder; I could just tell that by the end of this speech, Ernie would be completely red.

Sure enough, I had been right. Cedric's speech progressed and as it did so, Ernie grew more and more red, until he had to bury his head into my neck to hide it. I laughed quietly, running my hand over his head to calm him.

"And never forget, my little badger," Cedric concluded, raising his glass of champagne, "Your fairy godmother is always here to offer you help when you need it. Ladies and gentlemen, I invite you to raise your glasses to the most oblivious couple I have ever had the pleasure of meeting."

I rolled my eyes, when Cedric winked teasingly at me, raising his glass to me before he took a sip from his champagne. Ernie emerged from his hiding place in my neck, and shot an irritated look in Cedric's direction.

"Is it finally over?" he wondered aloud, pressing a kiss to the back of my hand when I nodded. "Thank Merlin, that man is dead set on embarrassing me. He promised me he wouldn't tell you."

"That you spent three weeks searching for the perfect ring?" I teased, smiling up at him. He nodded, sticking his bottom lip out rather petulantly. "It's endearing Ernie, you have no reason to be embarrassed. And I think I love you more for it."

"So, this is another thing I need to thank him for then?"

Before I could ask him what else he needed to thank Cedric for, Ernie rose from his seat and offered me his hand. I slipped my hand into his and rose to my feet, allowing him to lead me onto the dance floor. Wrapping my arms around his neck, I pressed my face against his shoulder when his hands found my waist. Merlin, I'd woken up at 4 am to get ready for the wedding and was so sleepy.

"Are you that tired?" he murmured in my ear as we swayed gently to the music.

"I'm not," I tried to deny and pulled back slightly to look at his face.

The look he gave me told me that he didn't believe me. "Just rest your eyes for a bit then."

"But –"

"It's fine," he insisted, "Just for five minutes."

"Just for five minutes," I agreed, returning my head to rest in the crook of his shoulders and my eyes drifted shut.

I wouldn't fall asleep – that I was sure of. No matter how sleepy I felt, my body was still running on the adrenaline high that I'd woken up with this morning. It would take a lot more for me to fall asleep. But this, being held in Ernie's arms, as we swayed gently I felt relaxed and I felt at home.

Sometimes I found it extremely difficult to believe just how far we had come. I had freaked out over our first kiss and had promptly avoided him and now here we were, married and preparing to spend the rest of our lives together. Who would have known that my fourth year boyfriend would become the love of my life? I certainly hadn't expected it and I knew that it was the same for Ernie.

Opening my eyes fully, I pulled back from Ernie and held him at arm's length. Seeing the slight disapproval on his face, I smiled gently and pressed a kiss to his lips. He was such a worrywart. My eyes flickered upwards – I could have sworn there was something there.

"Ernie?" I called out curiously.

"Yes, Mrs Macmillan?"

"Why is there mistletoe hanging above us in the middle of summer?"

Looking up, Ernie cursed at the sight of the mistletoe. "It's Cedric – he was the one to charm the mistletoe during the yule ball too."

"He was?" Ernie nodded and pressed his forehead to mine with a smile. "Can I ask you something?"

"Anything," he responded instantly, his words soft.

"Why is he your fairy godmother?" I had meant it as an innocent question but it didn't seem to be one. Ernie flushed crimson and removed his forehead from mine. "Ernie?"

"I'll answer any question but that." He looked away from me awkwardly.

"Well I have another then." Ernie nodded encouragingly, "Why does he call you his little badger?"


End file.
